How My Heart Behaves
by Chanelberry
Summary: Before Nightcrawler, before the Brotherhood, before Apocalypse, they were just two kids stuck in a large and lonely mansion, who loved hating each other's guts. A pre-series look at Scott Summers and Jean Grey, in simpler days of light and truth.


**How My Heart Behaves**

_Before Nightcrawler, before the Brotherhood, before Apocalypse, they were just two kids stuck in a large and lonely mansion, who loved hating each other's guts. A pre-series look at Scott Summers and Jean Grey, in simpler days of light and truth._

* * *

**001. Lasting Impressions**

AN: The first of hopefully many! Please review if so moved.

* * *

Logan glanced up from the morning paper as Scott made his way into the kitchen. "You fetching the new girl today, Slim?"

"Yeah," Scott muttered, preparing a bowl of cereal. "Lucky me."

Over the grainy black-and-white headlines, Logan studied the high school sophomore's thunderous expression. "You don't look too thrilled about it."

"I don't _like _her," Scott bit out. "She's a spoiled, stuck-up, man-hating brat who thinks she's better than everyone else."

Amusement flickered along the hard lines of Logan's face. "Man-hating? Really?"

"She threw a book at my head. Jesus." Scott crunched through a mouthful of cereal with the vehemence usually reserved for harder foodstuff. "I should've just blasted her into oblivion."

"Now, Slim, you know that's no way to talk," Logan warned, turning the page. "Xavier didn't raise you to use your powers to beat up girls."

"Oh, this is rich," Scott said bitterly. "Wolverine, lecturing me on moral values."

Logan shrugged. "Yeah, well, I can afford to be a jerk. I'm entitled. _You, _on the other hand, are just a kid. You gotta follow the rules. And the rules include putting up with fellow students."

Scott drew a frustrated breath. "I know, I know. It's just that... She _really _pisses me off."

"The Institute's a big place," Logan remarked. "You won't have any trouble avoiding her."

"I hope so," Scott grumbled, shooting his breakfast a dark look as he remembered the previous week's events that had conspired to give him such a low opinion of the new girl.

* * *

"What a lovely home you have, Charles," Elaine Grey breezily declared as she and her family stepped into the foyer of the Xavier mansion.

"Thank you, Elaine," said the Professor. He gestured to the boy standing silently beside him. "This is my student, Scott Summers. He's lived here for the past year and a half. Scott, this is Doctor John Grey, his wife, Elaine, and..." He flashed a warm smile at the girl almost hidden behind her parents. "Their daughter, Jean."

The first time Scott fully laid eyes on the redhead, he was consumed by resentful jealousy. He'd come to think of the Institute as his home, his own space, and now this _stranger_ would be living here as well, disrupting the pattern he'd comfortably settled into. It was nothing short of an invasion.

After he shook hands with John and Elaine, Scott's feelings magnified into outright animosity when Charles asked Jean, in a tone of undisguised tenderness, "How are you doing, my child?"

"Fine, Professor," she replied, a light, winsome smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

That was it, as far as Scott was concerned. Charles was the closest thing to a parental figure he'd ever known since the fateful night he and Alex had drifted to the ground as a plane burst into flames in the sky above them. This girl, with her pretty face and quiet breeding, was a rival for the Professor's fatherly affections.

"Scott, why don't you show Jean the library while I give her parents a tour?" Charles suggested. "John, Elaine and I have much to discuss."

With that, the teenagers were left alone in the foyer. _Now what?_ Scott seethed. Did the Professor actually expect him to make polite small talk with a person whose advent was about to drastically change everything?

Jean gazed at him with large, solemn eyes. "I'm not going to take your father away from you."

Scott reeled back as if she'd slapped him. "Stay out of my head," he growled.

"You were shouting. I couldn't help but hear," she said calmly.

"Look, everyone else might be blown away by the fact that you're one of the most powerful telepaths ever born, but _I'm _not. In fact, I couldn't care any less. So stop showing off."

She ignored this statement. "I don't want to go to the library. I already know what it looks like."

"You probably snuck a peek in the Professor's mind, huh?" he snapped. "Well, tough. He told me to bring you there, so that's where we're going."

A slight jeering tone crept into her voice. "I suppose you always do what you're told."

"And I suppose _you _think orders are for lesser mortals."

"I didn't say that."

"Well, you sure act like it." He turned away. "Come on."

The library was a testament to Charles Xavier's love for knowledge. Myriads of books graced the tall shelves; carefully organized assortments of obscure leather-bound Greek texts, glossy modern academic journals and thick encyclopaedias, concerning every topic known to man. Through the red tint of ruby quartz lenses, Scott scrutinized Jean's face for any sign of the amazement that he himself had felt when he'd first set foot in this bright and airy room, but her features remained impassive, almost bored.

"What's the matter, princess?" he snarled, goaded into attempting to crack her composure. "Is this too _inadequate _for the likes of you?"

Her eyes narrowed in visible annoyance. "What is your _problem?"_

Scott crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm just saying that, since you act like you're too high and mighty for this place, maybe you shouldn't live here, that's all."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? You're an obsessive-compulsive ass who detests the thought of someone upsetting your routine."

He glowered. She smirked and continued. "It must _really _irritate you that a mere female can so easily read your mind."

"Not as much as it must irritate you that, for the first time ever, someone's not fawning over how great you are."

"Oh, give it a rest, will you?" Her voice heightened in anger. "You don't know _anything _about me. My life is far from perfect!"

"Yeah? Why?" he sneered. "Did _Daddy _get you the wrong color iPod for Christmas?"

That was the first time Scott Summers experienced the brunt of Jean Grey's rage. A book flew from the shelves, hurtling through the air. He ducked just in time to narrowly avoid its collision with his head, and it bounced harmlessly off the wall, landing on the floor with a loud thud.

"What the hell?" he burst out.

With one last glare of pure, undiluted loathing, Jean spun on her heel and stormed out of the library.

* * *

"Penny for your thoughts, Charles?" said Ororo Munroe as she and the Professor finished up their breakfast in the dining room.

"What? Oh, my apologies." Charles blinked. "I was feeling a bit apprehensive. Jean's moving into the Institute today and, well, she and Scott did not exactly get off on the right foot when they first met."

"That's understandable," said Ororo. "They're kids who are just coming to terms with the responsibilities and consequences of being a mutant. I'm sure they're a bit overwhelmed at this stage in their lives, and so they took it out on each other. Probably without even meaning to."

"Yes, I know that may very well be the case." Charles sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm not looking forward to the amount of mediating I'll have to do in the near future."

"Logan and I will be there to help you out," Ororo assured him, and they both sat in silence as they contemplated the prospect of Logan dealing with two squabbling teenagers.

"You know, Charles, perhaps if Scott and Jean knew about each other's pasts, they would be more tolerant...?"

Charles shook his head. "I would feel uncomfortable divulging such personal information. They must reach an understanding on their own."

"Well," said Ororo, "at least we'll finally get _some_ excitement around here."

* * *

Scott's jaw dropped open as they rounded the corner into the Greys' street. "What's going on?" he demanded.

"I don't know," said Charles grimly, "but it doesn't look good."

Cars that had previously been parked in driveways were levitating wildly in the air, whirlpools of bright metallic colour that sent sparks and scraps flying in every direction as they crashed into one another. As the Professor deftly manoeuvred the wheel through the churning debris, Scott poked his head out the window and blasted away oncoming projectiles, shielding their own vehicle from the worst of the blows. They screeched to a halt in front of the Greys' house; the windows were shattered and the front door had been blown off its hinges. Scott helped the Professor into his wheelchair and they rushed inside.

The living room was a disastrous mess, as if a bomb had exploded, capsizing the furniture and scattering broken knick-knacks all over the carpet. John and Elaine crouched by the stairwell, horrified eyes fixed on their daughter, who stood at the centre of a floating whirlwind of household objects.

"What happened?" Charles asked over the roar of rushing air.

"I--- I don't understand it!" John stammered. "She was fine this morning, and then she and Elaine got into an argument---"

"She told me she didn't want to live at the Institute," Elaine moaned, fingers tangled in her hair. "And I said the decision was final. Everything's already been arranged---"

"You want to _hide _me!" Jean screamed in a deep and awful voice that reverberated with anger and the echoes of something dark and otherworldly. It grated on Scott's ears, as if a thousand different voices were speaking all at once. "You're _ashamed. _Out of sight, out of mind. You don't want to think about it anymore. You don't want everyone to know your daughter is a _freak---"_

"Jean!" the Professor called out. "That's not true! Your parents love you---"

An armchair rammed into the steps, narrowly missing the huddled group. "And so they lock me _away," _Jean snarled, "to live with you and that _boy---" _Her long red hair streamed above her shoulders, suspended by some invisible force, and from his vantage point Scott could almost swear her eyes were glowing...

"The blocks I installed in her mind to wall off her powers are rapidly deteriorating," said Charles in low, urgent tones. "I didn't expect this day to come so soon. We must snap her out of it, or else---"

A psychic blast resonated throughout the living room, causing everyone present to double over as fiery, white-hot pain ripped across their skulls. _My fault, _thought Scott in the midst of the agonizing haze. _If only I'd been nicer, if only I'd made her feel welcome---_

He sprung into action. Ignoring the Professor's cry, Scott cautiously approached the girl, who stared at him with fury and a hint of disbelief as he neared.

"Get out of my sight," Jean hissed.

Scott couldn't suppress a flicker of annoyance. Who did she think she was, the Queen of England? "Listen, you _have _to move to the Institute," he told her, trying to sound calm. "It's for your own good. If your parents truly didn't care, they'd have locked you in a nuthouse or something, all right? The Professor can _help---"_

"You don't want me there."

"It doesn't matter what _I _want. I'm just an obsessive-compulsive ass, remember?" The pressure building up inside his head slackened considerably, and Scott pursued this slight advantage. "I know being a mutant can suck sometimes---"

The ceiling trembled with Jean's rage. "I didn't _ask_ to be one!"

"Neither did I!" Scott snapped. "We didn't ask for any of this. But it's what we _got, _okay? This is our life, and we have to learn how to deal. Going off the deep end isn't going to make anything better. Look, all the bad things I said about you before--- don't you want to prove me wrong?" He held out a hand. "Don't you?"

It seemed to him that the entirety of time and space crystallized into that one crucial moment. Scott didn't breathe again until Jean took his hand and the various whirling objects stopped midflight, falling heavily to the floor.

* * *

"How's the new girl settling in?" Logan asked Ororo when they met in the hallway. "Heard from Xavier that she had a nasty fit this morning, and Slim helped her through it."

"Yes," Ororo confirmed. "He's with her now in the sickroom. Charles said she needed to be kept occupied, so Scott volunteered."

Logan smirked. "And he told me he didn't like her."

As they neared the door of the sickroom, they overheard the indistinct chatter of two young, spirited voices. Ororo smiled. "I'm glad they appear to have reached a truce."

Suddenly, the door flew open and Scott stalked out, only turning back to yell, "I don't _care _what your dad taught you! There's no such thing as delayed start!"

"You have to pass Go before you can buy property!" Jean shouted from inside the room. "It's a house rule!"

"Not in _this _house, it isn't!"

Transfixed, the adults watched Scott's retreating back as he disappeared down the hallway, muttering to himself.

Logan cocked an eyebrow at Ororo. "You were saying about a truce?"

Ororo shook her head. "Never mind."


End file.
